46-48 Ford Truck Trans and Rear: Something Special?

I came across this (46-48?) Ford heavy duty truck ch***is with running gear. The motor is a 59ab and turns over by hand. The owner said that the motor ran and he filled the whole thing (water jackets and all) with used motor oil to preserve it. He said that the ****** is a 4spd and he thinks the rear is the one that race trackers used to use to convert to a quick change rear. I really don't need the motor, but is the ****** or rear a good find? It looks like the rear would be heavy duty when you consider all of those leafs in the sping packs! And open drive already too.....

Thanks,

Doc

 

You won't know if the motor is any good until you take it apart and check it for cracks. Also unlikely that it is full of motor oil with the distributor of, it probably leaked some and the top of the motor has a bit of water in it.

The transmission is a 4 speed, but one with a granny first, not really a good choice for a hotrod.

Don't recognize the rear end, but it is NOT the banjo rear that is used for a quickchange. This may be a two speed rear, I know they came on the heavy duty trucks, but someone else here may be able to answer that better.

All the parts you have here are pretty standard, the engine is the only part that is possible worth something out of the whole setup.

 

That's a one-ton ch***is. The rear end is not a banjo, it's a center-split single speed unit. The engine might be worth getting, but it might not have been any good when the truck was junked. Get it cheap and tear it down! Leave the trans and rear for the restorers, no rodding potential there.

 

By the color, it could be an Army surplus motor. If so, it will have the floating rod bearings. Expensive to rebuild, or change over to more modern shells. Require different rods and crankshaft.

 

Pedals and master cylinder setup are nice parts to have.
The engine to ****** adapter is useful for a late model manual overdrive ****** swap.
Front axle, hubs, brake parts, etc. ???

 

I could probably get it all really cheap, but I don't need extra "junk" laying around. I have pleanty of flatheads as it is, but then again one more couldn't hurt. Its a shame that the rear is so useless. I figured with the one ton size and the webbing on this housing it would be a stronger rear than a run of the mill banjo rear. I considered putting it into a 40's coupe project to keep it pre-50's. Basically I think whatever I don't take is going to the s**** yard (for real).

 

Just wanted to share with anyone that followed this thread that I got an email reply from someone on the early ford forum and he added the following:

"These axles were popular with the sprint car and street racers back in the late 40's and 50's. They use the full floating axle principle which was a big plus for the racing crowd. I never saw them with quick change gears, since the housing design doesn't lend itself to that configuration like the Banjo housing, but anything is possible. For its time that rear end was stout, but the newer Dana's, 9"fords,etc are stronger and IMO a whole lot easier to work on. Hang onto it someone will be looking for one, especially a truck restorer looking for a good set of 4:86 gears.... "

Looking at it that way, if someone is building something traditional with pre-50's parts then they might want to go with one of these rears for the extra strength, etc. Sounds cool to me.

 

4.86 gears!
Way too low for a car on the street

 

Milk Truck rear ,,old stock cars used em,,also known as a Timken Axle

 

Depending on the tire size used and overdrive, to each his own.

 

The big truck rearends had 2 uses. One, to motivate big trucks up and down the road, and two, to motivate racecars around race tracks.
They accomplished both tasks quite well for many many years.

 

It takes two of those rear ends to make up a quickchange rear. They used two LHS axle bells with the big champ QC's. My dad sold a 1-ton rear to a guy building a 37 Ford hardtop car.

Neal

 

Aaaaaah, so they DID use the rear to make a quick change. Someone earlier said NO. Good to see your reply and find out how it was done. Thank you Neal.

Doc

 

There's another way these rear ends were made into quick changes for sprinters and super modifieds ('60s and '70s). A steel housing was made that resembled looking at a quickchange from the rear. Only it was bolted to the front, over the pinion shaft. A second shaft was beneath it to accept the other (Champ) Gear. To change gears, you had to remove the race car seat, and drop the driveshaft.

Sounds quirky, I know, but it cost (waaaay back then ) about $150 for the rear end and machine work versus $1,000 for the Champ rear. I had one once. (Most of us didn't have the grand.)

 

I think thats moss. All 59AB's had full floating rods...gotta get an 8BA crank/rods to go to modern shell bearings.

 

Thanks everyone for the information on the rear. I am working on buying the whole setup, ch***is and all. I may use the rear in a future project but I don't see myself using it as a donor toward a quick-change conversion. I also may re-sell the rear to someone who wants it for that purpose.

As for the 59ab and full floating bearings... we all know how hard it is to find blocks without expensive cracks, and most of us into them have at least one good crank and rods laying around that came from a bad block. If the block is good it will probably end up being built with an 8ba crank and rods, or with the 4" mercury crank that I have .

Thanks agian.
Doc